Â鶹ŮÓÅ

A long running lawsuit alleging deficiencies in the way Florida handles Medicaid for children has been delayed again after the state filed two motions days before a federal judge was supposed to issue a final ruling on the case. The class-action suit, filed by the Florida Pediatric Society in 2005, accused Florida health officials of failing to provide essential medical and dental services to children on Medicaid. A trial ended in 2012. In motions filed last week, lawyers for Florida’s Office of the Attorney General argued that recent changes to the state’s Medicaid system required by the federal Affordable Care Act, as well as the state’s move to a managed-care system, had addressed the plaintiffs’ complaints. The state asked Judge Adalberto Jordan, who had planned to rule at the end of October, to allow it to present new evidence in the case. (Nehamas, 10/30)

A lawsuit alleging that one of the for-profit companies running KanCare ordered employees to shift KanCare members away from high-cost providers has put a renewed spotlight on the program, one of the Brownback administration’s signature achievements. In the lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., a former official of the company, Sunflower State Health Plan Inc., claimed she was fired after she objected to the directive, saying it was unethical and possibly illegal. (Margolies, 10/30)

The [Louisiana] state health agency has entered into a settlement in a federal lawsuit over the inadequacy of notices denying Medicaid recipients access to services. U.S. District Judge Jim Brady, of Baton Rouge, approved the settlement, in which the state agrees to do a better job of providing specific information about the reasons for the service denials. He will oversee state compliance for the next five years. The settlement came in a class-action lawsuit, Wells v. the Department of Health and Hospitals. The lawsuit alleged that the notices were so lacking that an individual would not know on what basis to appeal the denial and what kind of information would be needed to reverse the decision. (10/30)

Alaskans lined up Wednesday to tell Gov. Sean Parnell's advisory committee on Medicaid that it would be a bad idea to limit payments for therapy services. More than 150 people attended the meeting that lasted more than five hours. Elann "Lennie" Moren, 62, testified that she was told she might not walk or talk again after she was slashed in 2007 by a machete wielded by her finance's son. Seven years later, she walked to a microphone and told the Medicaid Reform Advisory Group that through occupational, physical and speech therapy, "much is possible." The advisory group has recommended trimming therapeutic service to cut Medicaid costs. "If this is an example of Parnell care ... then it's no care at all," Moren said. (10/30)